


The Eleventh Halla

by phnelt



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Secret Marriage, Secret Marriage Becomes Public
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 19:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phnelt/pseuds/phnelt
Summary: “You think that because your husband is an elf, I will trust you?” Briala scoffed, like she hadn’t just upended Ailenne’s entire life. “Maybe marrying him was unusual, but you would not be the first to think that your pet elf is an exception.”





	The Eleventh Halla

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).

> Written for Sumi for Just Married 2019

“You think that because your husband is an elf, I will trust you?” Briala scoffed, like she hadn’t just upended Ailenne’s entire life. “Maybe marrying him was unusual, but you would not be the first to think that your pet elf is an exception.” She practically spit the last word. “I am not here for personal prizes. I will fight for a better future for all elves.” She looked Ailenne up and down, her gaze dripping with disdain. 

Ailenne was in shock. She managed to mumble something to the effect of, “I, too, want to improve conditions for the elves.” 

Josephine had warned her that the Winter Palace would be treacherous, that courtiers would come after her manners, her family, her companions, anything they could use to find leverage to unsettle her. So far they hadn’t disappointed. They’d been petty, close minded, and downright dismissive. Luckily Dorian seemed to thrive on intrigue and Solas was pretty unflappable in general. Cassandra looked ready to spit nails, but Ailenne liked her that way, it made her feel like she had a kindred spirit. 

Everything was as fine as could be expected, until Ailenne had stumbled into Empress Celene’s romantic drama and the jilted spymaster that came along with it. 

No one was supposed to know that Ailenne was married, let alone to whom. 

When Ailenne had married Solas, it was impulsive, purely emotional. They were gathering themselves to try to close the Breach and she’d felt like this was it, the end. She knew the odds of her, of anyone, making it out were not high even with the power they had from the mages. Everything relied on her and she felt so...alone. 

Some animal part of her desperately reached out and Solas grabbed back. 

The mood in Haven was somber, but she could barely stop laughing, pulling Solas by the hand and dragging him to Mother Giselle for handfasting. Ailenne wasn’t sure of the Dalish ways even if Solas had followed them, but Ailenne had dreamed of this moment. 

True, she’d imagined rather more of her friends and family in attendance, and maybe it would be at her home estate with the flowers in bloom. Her cousins would weave her a crown wreath and she’d stand with her intended under an arch as a Sister read the important portions of the Chant. 

She’d laid in bed with her sister and talked about the fabric of her dress, the song she’d commission for the handfasting, the foods she’d serve. When her youngest aunt had gotten married Ailenne had worn her best dress and sat and watched and thought, _my ceremony will be better. Trevelyans will talk about it for years to come. _She’d thought of everything. 

But she hadn’t thought about the groom. 

Even if she had, she wouldn’t have thought about Solas. Her family was non-traditional in that she was expected to choose her own spouse and she’d like to think that if she'd brought Solas home and announced her intentions her family would support her, but she knew that was not the case. 

She wasn’t thinking about any of that when Mother Giselle fastened their still connected hands together. She simply looked into Solas’s eyes and saw her own smile reflected in them. It wasn't anything she'd expected, anything she'd dreamed of, and it was perfect. 

Leliana placed her hands over their joined ones, witnessing for the temporal side. Giselle sanctified their union in the name of Andraste, Leliana solemnised their union for the mortal world. It was a binding no one could escape, a series of promises too important to be trifled with. 

That’s the only reason no one ever tried to force them apart, afterwards. 

Ailenne made those promises clear-hearted, and she didn’t regret them. There was no one she had wanted to have by her side more. Solas had a well of knowledge to him so deep that it sustained her, calmed her, kept her going. She loved being married to him, it was her only stability in this anxious time. 

So she would not change it, but. She might have thought through the consequences a bit more. 

Leliana talked after the Breach was healed, after Haven was destroyed, after Solas found her dying in the snow. She sat in Ailenne’s tent while Ailenne was so battered that every breath brought more pain than relief and explained the facts to her. 

The marriage would have to be secret. 

Leliana could trust her own discretion, Mother Giselle would never betray their confidence or her vow, and so it could be kept quiet. This was necessary, Leliana explained, because the Inquisition would need to be a political organisation. It needed allies and influence and it couldn’t get that when its religious figurehead -- Ailenne -- was married to an elf. 

Every part of Ailenne rebelled against the thought of lying and hiding, but then again, her entire body was currently rebelling against being alive so it didn’t get much say. 

Most of the Inquisition knew something was going on between her and Solas. They weren’t trying very hard to be sneaky; Solas didn’t even have his own room. 

But the marriage? That information was kept under lock and key. 

So Ailenne had to ask herself, how did Briala find out about them? 

She wanted to ask her. In fact, she was going to ask her. But Briala was saying something. 

“Yes, you want to improve conditions for the elves. You all do. But on your timeline. I want to improve conditions for the elves _now. _In fact, I will do so.” 

Ailenne was slightly offended. Yes, she had been about to say that Alienage conditions were on her list, just below defeating Corypheus. Which had to be a fair prioritisation! Corypheus threatened all of life as they knew it, it was hardly attempting to shirk her responsibility to the elves if she put him first. 

Ailenne felt stymied. She needed to avoid Briala’s animosity. She also needed to stop the assassin, win approval from the nobles, and get Orlesian support to fight Corypheus' army of blighted Templars. She was swamped. 

But then she had a second thought in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Leliana’s. Maybe she could do better than avoiding animosity. And maybe she could get more than Briala’s neutrality. 

“What if I did something public here, tonight, to show my allegiance to the elvish peoples.” 

Briala stopped short, knocked out of her rant. “What do you mean?” She asked suspiciously. 

Ailenne quirked her lips. 

*** 

That was how Ailenne found herself standing in front of a jaded Winter Palace audience. 

“I stand before you,” Ailenne said, “As a daughter of Ferelden, chosen by Andraste to lead us through this time of peril. As leader of the Inquisition, I closed the tear in the sky and I work towards ridding Thedas of the evil who spawned it.” The courtiers were listening, politely. This type of speech was surely expected. She took a breath. 

“I plan to do more than simply preserve what is. I fight for all of Thedas, including those who have been overlooked and oppressed.” Some stirrings from the crowd. “I do not plan to limit myself, but here, tonight, I speak of the elves who live among us. You have already heard from your Empress about her plans, so I will not belabour her points. But I will throw myself behind her efforts, wholeheartedly. And I will do that standing side-by-side with my husband.” 

She reached out her hand and listened to the whispers grow as the sea of courtiers parted to reveal Solas, bare-footed, striding through the throng. 

He stood proud, eyes shining, as he came to stand next to her, placing her hand in his. He squeezed her fingers briefly as they looked out at the crowd. 

Some seemed less shocked than others, which gave Ailenne a hint to where Briala got her information. But it was still gratifying to know she could have an impact on a crowd like this. 

*** 

Afterwards, collapsing into their borrowed opulent bed, exhausted, Ailenne asked, “But what I still don’t understand is who told Briala?” 

“Oh, that’s simple,” Solas said, his voice a purring rumble that set Ailenne shivering. “I did.” 

Ailenne sat up, shocked. “What?” Solas shushed her, soothing her back down. Ailenne let herself be drawn back to him. “Leliana is going to _kill _you.” 

“Hmm,” Solas said. “I think not.” 

“Alright, you have me intrigued, how do you plan to avoid that?” 

“It was her idea.” It had been a day of shocks but this one was up there. Maybe not quite Florianne fighting her on the floor of the Winter Palace, but up there with Celene publicly proclaiming Briala as a partner. 

Solas must have sensed her shock because he stroked his hand up and down her arm. “She knew how much you hated the secrecy. She could see it in your eyes every day.” Solas chuckled. “Remember when Josephine floated the idea of you marrying for prestige? I almost thought you were going to burn a hole in the War Table you were glaring so fiercely.” Ailenne remembered. It had been infuriating and she couldn’t explain to anyone why. Solas continued softly, “None of us want you to suffer, vhenan, not when we can prevent it. We saw our chance. And we took it.” He rustled next to her. “I apologise for not warning you.” 

Ailenne appreciated his apology, but how could she be mad? She had everything she wanted. “Oh, I wouldn’t apologise,” she said, “I think everything worked out just fine.” 

Pushing herself up on her hands she reached out in the dark, found Solas, and pulled him in for a kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are loved!


End file.
